Torn Hearts
by PaintedScarlet
Summary: Jet's wild but romantic. Zuko's unpredictable but comforting. Aang's sweet but predictable. And Katara has a headache, because she doesn't know anymore who makes her happiest. Set after Ember Island Players.
1. The Market

**Disclaimer: **If I had any rights at all, there would be Zutara shipping in Avatar: The Last Airbender and we Zutarians would be happy. But sadly, I am in no position to attain such a farfetched fantasy in the real show. Enough said.

'I'm starving, is there anything that I can get my teeth on around here?' Sokka grumbled, clutching his stomach. He lay down and rolled over, pretending sickness. 'Ow, I don't feel that good either.'

'That's because you keep eating all the unhealthy-looking leftovers!' Katara retorted, packing away pieces of clothing.

'She's right there, I don't feel good too. I knew that weird tasting crumbs couldn't be trusted.'

Katara whipped her head around to see Toph sitting against Appa's soft fur, back hunched over, her face facing the floor. She let out a sigh of disdain and stood up, brushing the front of her red top. She looked around their campsite, taking in the scenery and landscape. They were at Ember Island; their area was mountainous, with the sea nearby, and the beach shore close. Their camp was near the latter, with a feeble fire in the centre, Sokka lying closely, Toph and Appa on the opposite side. Aang and Zuko were about a few metres away, practicing Firebending together, going through the stances progressively. Suki was with them, watching. The blazing red sun was near setting.

'Alright, I'll go to town and get some food. I won't get much though, we're already running low on cash and I don't want you guys to start cheating again.' She jabbed an accusing finger at Sokka and Toph's direction. 'Stay close to camp. Since that play we watched by the Ember Island Players, I don't think we want people to know the real deal is living here on their very own island.' She picked up the coin bag and rummaged through, sifting out the silver coins from the bronze ones. 'Remember,' she warned, as she stepped away from the camp, and on her way to town.

--

'Hello dear, would you like some sweet fresh grapples? They just came in today,' an elderly woman said, beckoning Katara over with a flick of her hand.

'Well…' Katara thought aloud, jingling the coin bag in her right hand. 'How much is one?'

The lady smiled, the skin at her eyes crinkling. 'One bronze piece only.'

'Okay then, I'll take two.' She searched the coin bag for two bronze pieces and dropped them into the lady's hand. She selected two dark purple grapples and packaged them into a paper bag, handing them over to Katara.

'Have a lovely day,' Katara smiled, and walked away to browse for other food.

'Katara?'

The voice was familiar. She turned around, her eyes searching for the origin of the voice.

'Who—'

'Hey.' She turned back again, finding herself staring into his eyes. The rest of his face was masked, and his deep brown eyes locked with her cerulean ones, as they both stared back at each other.

_His eyes. So obvious. So very obvious. So very…familiar. _

**Author's Note: **

Yep, that's about it for now. Just a short chapter, sorry. Anyway, in case you were wondering, 'grapples' are grape + apples. I thought since animals in Avatar had originality, I should put some into fruits as well. (:

Have fun guessing who the guy is!

-Scarlet


	2. Katara's Conscience

**Disclaimer: **If I had any rights at all, there would be Zutara shipping in Avatar: The Last Airbender and we Zutarians would be happy. But sadly, I am in no position to attain such a farfetched fantasy in the real show. Enough said.

'Thought I'd find you here,' Jet grinned, pulling down his mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

'Thought you were dead,' Katara retorted back angrily, an instant memory of him betraying her flashing back. She turned away from him on her heel and walked away.

'Hey come on, I thought you would be happy,' he said, catching up with her by taking two long strides. Katara ignored him, perusing a cart of unique feathers.

'Don't ignore me. I've changed, remember?' he reasoned, side stepping in front of her. Katara pretended she was busy, and continued picking up brightly coloured feathers, turning them over and admiring their intricate designs.

'These patterns are truly lovely, Miss,' Katara commented to the young woman shopkeeper, who was in charge of the cart, ignoring Jet's previous question. The woman gave back a hearty smile, clearly not used to customers appraising her work. Jet sighed and put his hands on Katara's shoulders, pulling her to face him fully to get her attention. She squirmed away, jerking back so suddenly that she hit into the cart, sending it wheeling backwards which in turn dropped a few feathers. They fluttered to the dirty ground, and Katara glared at Jet.

'Don't force me to waterbend, Jet,' she threatened through gritted teeth.

He widened his eyes, imploring her. 'I didn't mean to knock you into the cart.' The woman gasped and began picking up the feathers from the ground. Katara ignored Jet again and turned around to help pick up the remaining feathers, dusting away the dirt and other grime that stuck to them. The woman smiled gratefully and stood up, gathering all the fallen feathers and placing them back neatly onto the cart.

As soon as Katara gave back the feathers, she stalked away from them, hastening her speed. Jet looked at the woman, said his apologies, and began to chase after Katara. The woman put her hand on Jet's arm, stopping him.

'Your girlfriend is really scary when she's angry. What did you do wrong?' she questioned, sounding friendly. Before Jet answered that Katara wasn't his girlfriend, she placed a feather on his palm. 'Take this and give it to her. She'll love it and will maybe forgive you.' She smiled at him and released her grip on his arm. Jet looked down at the feather. It was of a deep sapphire blue, and had white stripes from the top to the bottom, that formed a beautiful pattern.

'_White and blue,' _Jet thought. They were Katara's Watertribe colours. _'She would love this.'_

He looked up and smiled gratefully at the young woman, who returned back his smile.

--

Katara marched back into camp, still fuming from her previous encounter with Jet.

'Sugar Queen's back!' Toph sang out, standing up in way of greeting her.

'Hey Katara,' Aang said, pushing himself off the ground by airbending. 'What did you get?' Katara put her two paper bags on the floor and took out the items.

'Two grapples for Toph's and Sokka's bad stomachaches, some bread, coconuts and a tin of jellied pineapples,' she named out, taking out the food one by one.

'Jellied pineapples! My favourite!' Sokka grinned, grabbing the tin off the ground.

'Sokka!' Katara scolded, snatching the tin from his hand. 'Eat your grapple first. Have you completely forgotten about that pain in your stomach?'

'Okay okay, sheesh, touchy.' Sokka grabbed one of the dark purple fruits and bit into it, the juice trickling down his chin.

Katara nodded approvingly and handed Toph the other grapple. 'That's better. Fruits are good for you. And wipe the juice off your mouth. It's repulsive.'

Aang raised his eyebrows at Zuko in response to Katara's behaviour, to which the latter shrugged, grabbing a piece of bread for himself.

'Katara…' Aang began.

'What?' She looked up at him quickly. Her eyes darted away, suddenly interested with her crimson Fire Nation dress hem lining. 'What is it?'

'Did Azula drop by in town and did something to Katara?' Toph wondered aloud, interrupting them.

'What? No!' she snapped, rolling her eyes. 'Don't be stupid. I'm fine.' She stood up and walked over to Appa, bending down to clear away his shedding fur.

Aang looked at Sokka and Suki questioningly, who both shrugged instead, the former continuing to eat his grapple, and the latter stretching her legs out near the warm crackling fire. 'I guess it's just one of those moody days for her.'

'I heard that, Sokka!' Katara growled, going over to join them, with an armful of clothes. 'And I don't think any of you should worry about me, because I'm fine.' She paused to look at them. Toph was lying on her back, one arm propped up and the other arm holding the grapple she was eating. Sokka was eating his grapple, sitting and talking with Suki. Aang was playing with Momo and Appa, and Zuko was eating a piece of bread, sitting cross-legged at the campfire. She dropped the bundle of clothes with a sigh and stormed off to the beach shore.

'Why are you so angry?'

She turned around and saw Zuko standing there. She looked back to the sea, which was now dark and gloomy, but the shining stars in the sky glinted in the reflection of the water.

Katara hesitated before answering. 'You are in no position to force me to tell you anything about my personal feelings.'

'I wasn't forcing. I just wanted to know. You normally were a lot more cheerful.' She continued to stare stonily ahead at the dark sea. He stayed behind her, not moving.

'Don't talk to me like you know me.'

'I thought we had everything cleared up. You can trust me now,' Zuko probed.

Katara cleared her throat. 'Yes, we have. It's not about you. It's other things.' Her voice was unmistakably softer. The gentle wind swayed her long skirt to the side, and she closed her eyes for a brief moment to enjoy the breeze. Zuko stepped forward so he was next to her.

'Everything okay?' he whispered into the air, staring at the dark night sky.

'I'm okay, really.' She turned to look at him. 'Everything's just fine. I'm just paranoid about the final battle. About Aang and everything else; it's just so fast. He's not even prepared! He hasn't mastered all the four elements properly, and he has to defeat the Fire Lord soon—'

She stopped with a wave of Zuko's hand.

'You're mumbling. Shh.' He kept quiet, gazing at the lights that belonged to the village, along the coast line. 'You should stop worrying about other people, and start thinking more about yourself.' He turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised to show his point.

Katara looked down, wiggling her toes in the warm sand that had trapped heat in the daytime. 'It's just been a part of me. Looking after others always has been. I never thought of it in any other way.' She looked up. 'Like Sokka, I'm a motherly figure to him ever since our Mom died. It's been rough for him. For us.'

'I'm sorry.' Zuko began to walk to the coast, and Katara followed suit. 'I still am, about your mother. But I lost mine too, and it was very hard, especially when you have a sister like Azula around. I had to keep fighting for myself everyday. My father wasn't the best of fathers around. My uncle; he was the only one who was there for me. And I may never be able to regain his trust again, not after what I did to him in the catacombs in Ba Sing Se. I wish I could take that day back. Relive it again, and I wouldn't do things that I have regretted till now.' Katara remembered the part when Zuko told Katara about his mother to her, making her feel sorry for him. 'You _know_ what things.' She locked her eyes with his golden ones that glinted in the moonlight and suddenly felt all her anger diminish.

'Thank you, Zuko.' She smiled gratefully at him.

'For what?' he asked, confusion appearing on his face.

'For talking to me.'

She hugged him, letting herself go limp in his warm, strong arms. He was shocked at first, and then hugged her back hesitantly, burying his nose in her thick chocolate hair and breathing in her sweet flowery scent. Katara, finally in a long while, felt comfortable and at ease; because of Zuko, not because of Aang.

Was this right? Was this how it was supposed to turn out as? Wasn't she supposed to be together with Aang, like he asked her at the play intermission? After their kiss at the invasion, were they naturally supposed to be together?

'_I don't think of the Avatar in the romantic way,' the actress Katara said. 'I only have eyes for you, Prince Zuko.'_

'_I will always love you,' the actress Katara said to the actress Aang. 'Like a brother.'_

Katara broke away from him suddenly, upon realising all of her thoughts. Confused, she ran away from Zuko, leaving him stunned at her sudden impart. Angry, Zuko kicked his foot at the sand, sending a cloud of sand flying in the still night air.

'Why am I so bad at making people happy?' he scolded himself, squeezing his eyes shut.

Halfway, Katara stopped running and walked back to the deserted vacation inn where their campsite was, still sniffling and wiping tears away from her red eyes.

_What do I do now, with Aang, Zuko, and – and Jet?_

**Author's Note:**

Hope you enjoyed the story so far! Sorry I couldn't think of a better cliffhanger, so yeah, it didn't make this very interesting at the end. But anyway, did you guess it was Jet after Chapter 1? It couldn't be Haru anyway…or could it?

Anyway, I was checking out about that Avatar movie that's going to come out in 2010, and the casting… well the casting… is OMG worthy. Zuko's actor is PUKE worthy! _Why him?_ Sigh. But still. The world must go on. Sadly.

Chapter 3 will be coming soon!

When I find time to write!

Cheers.

-Scarlet


	3. Breakfast

**Here's Chapter 3! Enjoy! (:**

--

Katara woke up with an ear-splitting headache from her uncomfortable sleep. Apparently, stones weren't good for propping heads up for long durations of time. Rubbing her head, she sat up, noticing the rest were still asleep soundly, Sokka being the loudest as he snored away blissfully, except for Zuko, who was nowhere to be seen. Only Momo was awake, and she was sitting up straight near the ashes from the campfire, cocking her head to one side upon realising Katara had woken up.

'Hey Momo, I guess I woke up a little earlier than expected, huh?' Katara cooed, reaching her hand to stroke Momo's soft fur. She purred happily and enjoyed the attention. Katara brushed her long hair, and tied two clumps of hair in front to the back, which was what Sokka called 'hair loopies'.

'Your 'earlier than expected' is still considered late for people like me,' a deep voice said. 'I rise with the early morning sun.' Katara squeezed her eyes shut, annoyed at Zuko.

'Where do you get off to, irritating people like that?' she said lightly, trying not to sound like she meant it. But well, of course she did.

Momo skittered over to Zuko, who was standing far away from their sleeping area, next to a stone pillar. She pawed at his boots, before climbing up his clothes swiftly and clinging to his dark raven hair. Zuko feebly tried to pry Momo off, but she held fast, and his attempts were made futile. Katara raised her eyebrows in amusement and stood up, setting up a big pot.

'What are you making?' he asked, walking closer to her.

'Breakfast,' she answered without hesitation. Then she paused. 'Wait, people who rise with the sun go without a morning meal?' She joked, stopping to look at him. Zuko's cheeks turned a light pink, and turned his face away so Katara couldn't see that she made him feel embarrassed.

'What are you making?' Zuko repeated his question again, more clearly, indicating that Katara was an idiot for not answering his question straightaway. It was hard for her not to laugh at Zuko trying to be proud, with a lemur clinging to his head. Her lips curled into a smile, and she continued on with her duty.

'Gruel,' she finally answered, as she wiped six small bowls with a clean rag.

'That's disgusting,' he growled, staring at her in indignation.

'That's food,' she replied haughtily.

'What about the jellied pineapples? We could eat that.' Katara shook her head.

'That's not proper food. Breakfast is important.' She stood up with the pot and went away to fill it up with water.

Zuko crossed his arms over his chest and grunted loudly, waking up Aang from his deep slumber. He yawned, stretching his arms upwards, and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

'Hey, Zuko. What's for breakfast?' he looked hungrily at him, smacking his lips. He somehow was used to eating straight after he woke up.

'Disgusting same old stuff,' Zuko replied, shooting a concentrated beam of fire at the wood splinters, starting a huge, crackling fire.

'And where's Katara?' he looked left and right, his grey eyes searching in vain.

'Watch it, Zuko! You have to be more careful with that!' Katara scolded, appearing with the pot of water, her arrival answering Aang's second question. 'Firebending's dangerous, you almost hurt Sokka.' She pointed an accusing finger at a still snoring Sokka, who was teetering closely to the fire as he turned around, changing his sleeping position.

'Sorry,' Zuko grumbled. 'But I'm bored of gruel. Can't we go to town and get something edible?'

'I've gotten all of the stuff ready. Let's not waste time going there.' Katara settled the pot of water on the fire, the pot tilting precariously near Sokka, since the branches formed an uneven plane. She picked up a paper bag and tipped all the contents into the pot, the white rice pouring out. She began to stir the food, her arms hovering above the pot and moving in a circular motion, using waterbending.

Aang shrugged at the measly food choice and went to pry Momo off Zuko's head to play with her.

'Ouch, watch it!' he snapped, Momo now pulling out his hair. 'Stupid lemur.' Aang frowned at Zuko, and Momo finally released her grip, twittering at Zuko's curse.

'Momo's not stupid,' Aang corrected, continuing to frown. Momo hopped on Aang's shoulder, purring in agreement. Zuko just grunted again.

'Well I'm going to the village,' he announced, pulling his trademark long robe over his head. He walked away, taking long strides.

'Don't be long, or your food will be cold.'

Zuko didn't have to glance back to know it was Katara's voice.

--

When Zuko got back, everybody was wide awake, sitting around the campfire and eating the gruel.

'Where have_ you_ been, Scarface?' Toph announced in way of greeting him, as he approached from far away.

'Town.' Katara held up his bowl for him, and he took it and sat down, between Toph and Katara.

'Oh, but where else?' Toph retorted, hinting her snide remark at the limited choice of places to go on Ember Island.

'It's not that bad,' Suki commented, holding up her bowl for seconds. Katara placed her own bowl down and waterbended gruel from the pot into hers. 'I mean, here's a good place to train for Sozin's Comet. There's lots of space, and this place's secluded by the mountains nicely. No one knows the pathway up here.' She spooned gruel into her delicate mouth.

'Sozin's Comet…' Aang trailed, leaving his sentence detached. He stopped eating and put his bowl down, deep in thought. Katara's eyebrows knitted together, feeling hopeless that she wasn't able to help Aang with his problem.

'Don't worry, Twinkletoes, leave that off your mind for now. You'll do the right thing at the end somehow. You always do.' Aang looked up and smiled weakly at Toph. Then remembering she was blind, he quickly replied, 'Thanks, Toph.'

'Somehow I knew that pause in between was you smiling at me,' she shrugged, bringing the bowl up to her mouth, drinking down the watery gruel. She smacked her lips contentedly. 'Somehow you guys keep forgetting I'm blind.'

Katara paused and raised her eyebrows questioningly at Zuko. 'Are you alright? You haven't touched your food yet.'

He glanced down at his full bowl, and then remembered that he hadn't eaten. 'Yeah, I'm fine.' He picked up his bowl half-heartedly, and ate a spoonful. 'It isn't that bad,' he smiled politely at Katara.

But she didn't return his smile. 'What's wrong, Zuko?' She put her bowl down, trying to lock her eyes with his, but he kept glancing away, avoiding eye contact.

Everyone but Sokka noticed the sudden tense situation, and stopped eating. Sokka still continued slurping down the contents of his bowl noisily, having not said a word during the whole meal, and now offered his bowl to Katara, indicating he wanted fourths. He paused when she didn't waterbend gruel into his bowl, his arms still outstretched.

'Sokka, not now,' Suki whispered, glaring at him. She pushed his arms down.

Zuko looked up and noticed everybody staring questioningly at him. Well, except for Toph, who faced stonily ahead.

'Well, I was walking in the town, watching villagers as usual,' Zuko began calmly. 'Then I saw the Ember Island Players being cheered on by a group of people, and everything was normal, but then there was a suspicious character. He seemed vaguely familiar, with his lean body and tall yet solid stature. He didn't seem like the rest of them, and plus, he wore a mask that concealed a part of his face. Only the eyes could be seen, but I wasn't close enough to recognize his them. I'm just a little worried that he might be a Fire Nation spy, and at the same time, I'm trying to figure out who he is.'

'_Jet,' _Katara thought.

'What?' Zuko said, snapping his head back up to look at Katara.

'What? I didn't say anything!' she retorted, suddenly scared that she had. 'Did I?' She paused for a brief moment, questioning herself. 'No,' she said, squeezing her eyes tight. 'I didn't.'

'You sound like you're reassuring your own self,' Toph stated, feeling an irregular skip in Katara's heartbeat.

'I heard you clearly, Katara,' Zuko glanced sideways at her. 'If I'm not wrong, you said 'Jet'.'

'But – I didn't say his name!' Katara protested. 'I only thought about it.' She bit her bottom lip uncertain of what she said or thought about.

'Guys – ' Toph tried to say, but Aang interrupted her.

'Sometimes it happens, when you're shocked, you think of something which you actually say aloud,' reasoned Aang.

'Um, guys?' Toph said again, her eyes widened in alarm.

'Wait, who's Jet?' Suki asked, looking around. 'It seems that only I don't know him.'

'I'm Jet,' came a voice, loud and enunciated with clarity. Everybody but Katara and Toph, who the former found no interest in looking at him, and the latter that already knew, whipped their heads around in the direction of the voice, squinting their eyes and searching for him. Katara kept her head down, staring at her bowl with her eyes narrowed, which sat on the dirty, marble floor.

Jet stepped out of the shadows, his trademark smile plastered to his handsome boyish face as he faced them. Nobody tried to detain him, since he had changed since the day they were in Ba Sing Se, and Zuko felt obliged to let the guy speak out.

He cleared his throat and began to speak. 'Katara, you and I haven't finished talking yet.' He looked at Katara, who glanced up and glared at him. Everyone turned to look at Katara.

'We never even started talking!' she retorted angrily, standing up. Jet recoiled back, alarmed at her anger. Now everyone turned to look at Jet.

'Katara, don't be so mad. I'm sorry!' Jet replied, his soft words melting through Katara's aura of anguish. All eyes were focused on Katara again. She widened her eyes at the sudden apology, but narrowed her eyes again, still retaining her anger.

'I don't know why you're so furious about, Katara. You were so kind in the underground canal beneath Lake Laogai. I thought you had forgiven me already.' She put her hands to her ears and turned away, pretending not to hear him. She felt all the eyes boring into her back, waiting for her reaction.

Jet tried to speak again, but Katara muttered to herself, humming a random tune, loud enough for Jet to hear her doing that. He sighed in defeat, wondering what to do to get her attention. Then he remembered the feather that he obtained from the woman shopkeeper in town.

He dug the feather out, and held it in his outstretched palm.

'Katara,' he began, his tone pleading. 'I still like you.'

--

**Author's Note:**

That's the end for the chapter. Zutara shipping will come later on, after I've developed Jet into the picture properly, because right now, he has a death wish coming from Katara hovering around the poor guy. :D

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

_-Scarlet_


End file.
